February 19, 2010

State Supreme Court rules no pension for jailed George Ryan

Posted by Ray Long and Michelle Manchir at 5 a.m.; last updated at 1:53 p.m. with Thompson, Madigan reaction

SPRINGFIELD --- The Illinois Supreme Court today ruled that imprisoned ex-Gov. George Ryan should not get get any of his state
pension because of his federal conviction on political corruption charges.

The 6-1 decision means Ryan, who turns 76 next week, won't be able to start collecting about $5,900 a month, or around $71,000 a year.

Justice Bob Thomas, the former Bears kicker, wrote the majority opinion against Ryan.

"George H. Ryan Sr. has clearly forfeited all of the pension benefits he earned from the general assembly retirement system. As the victims of Ryan's crimes, the taxpayers of the state of Illinois are under no obligation to now fund his retirement," the opinion reads. You can read it by clicking here.

Justice Anne Burke, wife of Chicago Ald. Ed Burke, was the lone dissenting justice who favored Ryan getting some of his pension back. She wrote that the court majority ignored precedent and "incorrectly construes the forfeiture provision" in state pension law.

"I would conclude there is a connection between the felonies and Ryan's position as governor and secretary of state," Burke wrote. But "there is no such connection between the felonies and Ryan's position in the General Assembly or as Lieutenant governor. ... Without such nexus, there is no basis to disqualify Ryan from receiving those benefits related to these positions."

The $71,000 estimate is
based on his years as a Kankakee County board member, state lawmaker
and lieutenant governor for two terms under then-Republican Gov. Jim
Thompson, who argued on Ryan's behalf before the state Supreme Court. Thompson also is asking
President Barack Obama to grant a clemency request to release Ryan from
a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind. to be with his ailing wife, Lura Lynn
Ryan.

"It's deeply disappointing, not only to me, his counsel, but to the governor and his family," Thompson said. "He now not only sits in the penitentiary at the age of 76, having served two years already, but now there is no hope for he and his family. So he's not only lost his office, his name, his reputation, but he's lost his pension even for the years he served faithfully. He's lost his Social Security. He has nothing."

Thompson said he would not ask the court for a rehearing, saying he did
not know how he could persuade a majority of justices to change their
positions if Burke could not persuade them already.

"So this is the end," Thompson said.

A woman who answered the phone at the Ryan home in Kankakee today said Lura Lynn wasn't available.

A spokeswoman for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said the office is pleased with the decision.

“Former Governor Ryan breached the public trust by using his state government positions to engage in criminal conduct," spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler said. "His actions were exactly the type of misconduct that the pension forfeiture law is designed to deter. This decision confirms that public officials cannot be allowed to benefit from conduct that violates the public trust."

At the center of the closely-watched case was whether Ryan could receive credit for time he spent in government positions up until he became secretary of state and governor --- time not covered by a lengthy federal investigation into his tenure as a public official.

Thompson told justices last year that Ryan deserves the pension because the crimes he was convicted of are linked to his service as secretary of state and governor, a 12-year span ending in January 2003.

Ryan was found guilty in April 2006, of steering state contracts and leases, including a $25 million IBM computer deal, to political insiders while he was Illinois secretary of state during the 1990s and then governor for one term.

In return, he got vacations in Jamaica, Cancun and Palm Springs, and collected gifts ranging from a golf bag to $145,000 in loans to his brother's foundering business.

Ryan now is serving a six-year, six-month prison sentence. He reported in November 2007 and could be released July 4, 2013, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Ryan retired with a $150,691 salary as governor, but his 36 years climbing the ladder of local and state politics allowed him to collect about $200,000 a year until he was convicted. He and his wife, who is suffering from a terminal lung disease, also lost health benefits.

Thompson asked state pension board members following Ryan's conviction to give "Gov. Ryan and Mrs. Ryan the pension to which he is entitled, the pension for service which had nothing to do with the facts leading to his conviction --- as though he left public life at the end of his second term as lieutenant governor."

"That is the appropriate thing to do. That is the right thing to do. That is what the law of Illinois demands that you do," Thompson said.

The pension panel, made up of lawmakers and retirees from both parties, rejected that argument and stripped Ryan of his pension.

A circuit court judge agreed with the pension board's ruling, but an appellate court sided with Ryan.

So the case went to the state's highest court, which reversed the appellate decision.

"The trust to which Ryan was unfaithful was that which he owed to the people of the state of Illinois, who for 30 years placed their confidence in him and whose continuing confidence he repaid by transforming two of this state's highest constitutional offices into an ongoing and wholly self serving criminal enterprise," the court's opinion stated today.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat, argued Ryan is not entitled to his pension due to his criminal conviction.

"The very people whose trust Ryan betrayed for personal gain should not now be required to fund his retirement," according to a brief filed by Madigan's office.

Madigan and Thompson rely on different precedents. Ryan's team cited a case in which Illinois courts let one corrupt former official keep a pension from a local government not linked to his crimes, but he lost pension credit for time he spent working for the government victimized by his wrongdoing.

Madigan's argument was simple. Ryan should lose the whole pension because he was a member of the same state pension system before and after his crimes. He had shifted his pension credits from the nearly six years in county government to the state pension after joining the legislature in 1972.

"Through his felonious conduct while in service to the citizens of Illinois, Ryan knowingly placed at risk all of he pension benefits he had earned and to which he otherwise would have been entitled," Madigan's brief said, adding: "He cannot now complain that forfeiture is unjust or unfair.

"No unfairness exists where the General Assembly gave notice to Ryan when he was first elected to that body that future abuses of the public trust in the form of service-related felony convictions would deprive him of his pension."

Madigan also attacked the appellate court ruling in Ryan's favor, saying the arguments by lawmakers in writing pension statutes "cannot be squared with the appellate court's decision."

Thompson said Madigan's arguments were misguided.

In addition to the $5,900 a month, Ryan also would have been
eligible for back payments worth about $233,000 because pension
payments had stopped in September 2006, but he also would have had to
pay a $78,500 reinstatement fee, said Timothy Blair, who heads the
pension system.

Ryan received $235,500 from the pension system when his pension was
voided, representing personal contributions he made to the retirement
fund over the years, Blair said.

Comments

Is Big Jim still defending Georgie pro bono? Didn't his law firm lay off a slew of people? Maybe Jimbo should start focusing his efforts on other (paying) clients because he (and his firm) are starting to look foolish and desperate. Someone fax him a clue! The People of Illinois are so over George Ryan and he is where he belongs.

@JUANITA B. & anyone else who thinks he should be let to go home... Ryan's political avarice and financial greed led directly to my brother's death at age 40 in 1999. (The Willis children are the face of the trucking scandal tragedies, but there were over a dozen people who died in similar incidents.)

George Ryan needs to serve his full sentence. My brother will NEVER be able to go home. His wife, his children, his parents will NEVER see him again. The death sentence Ryan imposed on my brother will never be commuted - nor should Ryan's prison sentence. Let him serve his time.

Good decision. George Ryan and other crooked "statesmen" bring it on themselves.The people of Illinois and the nation deserve better. Politicians of all parties are stealing us blind, mishandling funds with pork projects (I hate that clean-sounding term "earmarks"), ghost payrollers, nepotism, etc. And don't get me started about tollways in all states...take the money out at the pump, and we won't have to support the tollway infrastructure and predictable-as-the-seasons corruption.

maybe if ryan is allowed out by Obama which frankly would be the one thing that Obama would have done that I agree with, maybe those old Ryan supporters who feel he took an awful lot of the weight that should have been spread around a bit more will think about sending George and Lura 10 or $20 to help him out and say at least thanks for what good he did do for this state.

yep Quinn will let out murderers and rapist, wife beaters and robbers but have to make sure that george stays locked up. You'll see, Quinn is as dirty as all of them. Personally why didn't Quinn as lt. governor whistleblow on Gov. Blagojevich? Quinn let an awful lot ride into the sunset didn't he. Still is. Look how many millions are owed to the school districts. The state of illinois owes milions to each and every school district in this state and Quinn is still going around handing out grants and checks for projects all throughout the state. Where is he getting it from? False promise and lies from the governors mansion.

yeah well george ryan only has done what so many before and still after him are doing. he just got caught. about the rostenkowksi's, blago, 150 now indicted in the city of chicago have they all or will they lose theirs. trying to tell me that those like mike madigan are clean but yet they have all they want.

there were many years that did a lot of good for this state. taking campaign dollars from staff and some other things is small compared to what we hear and see elsewhere. yes he deserves to be punished but if george ryan was making so much money under the table where is it all? The man was never an extravogant spender, lives in a modest home and drove modest vehicles. He was part of a crooked state of illinois that is no different today as a result of his arrest and being put in jail.

The man always prided himself with his family and always showed the outmost love for his wife. He should be able to spend time with her during her last days on this earth.

What makes me sick is how many recently just got let out of jail and how many more were going to be let out by Gov. Quinn until it hit the news. Put a ankle bracelet on Gov. Ryan and let him go home. We live in such a mixed up messed up world anymore with our priorities completely out of whack. I feel for the family that lost all of those children on the highway and that it is easy to blame Ryan but when are all of these state and federal employees who know THEY are doing wrong or know who are doing wrong going to get off of their arses and start whistleblowing on the wrongdoings going on around them. We are all guilty if we know wrong is happening and we allow it to continue not just put the blame on one person.

"Whew! I am relieved to read that SOMEONE in Springfield "gets it" and that this man who still feels he is above the law will NOT get the pension."

I find it difficult to revisit these situations so consistently since HOLY COW how did we keep electing this creep to constantly escalating offices? I am sick about him, Blago, Madigan, and Daley. How do we wean ourselves off of these blood suckers?
I have no empathy for his wife since she participated in the cover up. They are both sickening.

They need to make an example out of these government officials. It is about time Illinois gets justice and does not have to pay for another individuals crime. Hopefully the next corrupt public official thinks about it before he/she tries to screw the hard working people of their state.

@ rick - george ryan could not have used the money as he's in prison (rules). but his wife, who is terminally ill and w/out resources, could have.

@ alex - you may have noticed a reference to "state pension law" - this includes the "pension forfeiture provision" which provides that the pensions of felony-convicted political officials in illinois are no longer his own - presumably, OJ's pension didn't have the same qualifications, hence why ryan and OJ are in different situations.

@ CJ mcdill - he didn't make millions off the IBM deal - his family wouldn't be destitute and the feds would have tracked the money. they list what they claim he got in exchange - some vacations, golf club type items and favors.

@ john public - the amts he was paid back were his personal contributions, not amounts accrued as a result of his pension plan. the article states that.

@ stanislaus - legal opinions provide guidance towards interpreting application of the same legal questions in the future. so this would presumably apply to other officials governed under this law. however, opinions are sometimes very fact specific and can't be applied to future cases. so it would depend.

@ tom - sorry, just have to make the point that this would have given the money to two out-of-work individuals.

@ isaac - to be clear, the reason it isn't simple is both that there was an earlier case that went for the defendent on this and also that the statute applies to actions "relating to or arising out of or in connection with his or her service as a member" - so the issue is whether the language applies only to those actions for which there was a felony conviction or it applies to all time in service, even if the felony conviction was for a minor matter in a last year of x numbers of years of service (not that this was minor per se, but just to make the broader issue clear).

I can understand the sense that someone who committed a crime shouldn't receive benefits from that crime but if there was no crime committed during the earlier period of his career, it seems odd that the entire pension would be lost as a result. It's a serious matter b.c. he didn't pay into social security (like teachers etc.) due to the pension system and thus, has nothing to fall back on - the decision just creates an odd public policy issue b.c. we don't want people destitute, which is why we insist that they pay into social security or have secured pensions so if we take away the entire pension, we assure that we will remove the safety net.

It isn't at all clear that the language of the statute gave Ryan full notice that this would be the case - indeed the fact that this went to the supreme court shows that it wasn't at all clear what the statute meant. So I also don't follow the logic that ryan was given notice that he would lose his full pension under these circumstances.

Good for you, Lisa !! Don't let a convicted, incarcerated former governor of Illinois manipulate the Pension System (while behind bars no less !!) at the expense of the Illinois taxpayer. With all the financial problems facing the State right now, this issue should be a real 'no brainer'. Ryan was elected to serve in the public interest and for the public benefit. and when he betrayed that trust, forfeited his State Pension entitlements. Why doesn't he turn to his cronies that he rewarded so generously while in Office for his old age financial needs ??

Let's hope this philosophy spreads nationally - about time pensions and perks are pulled from criminal politicians. And don't let anyone be "grandfathered" in - would prefer they also stop paying out to those who have already been convicted.

When will people who commit crimes not only have to forfeit their pensions, but also have to PAY, themselves, for the cost of their prosecution, and for the cost of their incarceration?

Sending someone to jail is very expensive. And if the person is guilty, why should the taxpayers be expected to pay for the felon's room and board?

Sure, there are many, many felons who can't pay for the costs of their crimes. But a ticking clock expense wise would mean that if they ever do get any money, the taxpayers are reimbursed for their room, board, and incarceration expense. Kind of like child support - it should never go away.

If I get fired from my job, I will lose my pension. George Ryan was fired, as far as I am concerned -- NO PENSION! And I find it interesting that Anne Burke was the only dissenting vote -- why do politicians (and their families) think they can be crooks and still get paid after they are convicted????

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